"I'm Going (Mostly) Vegan + My Grocery List"

Posted on
September 6, 2017

Hello everyone! This past week went by too fast... I have had so much stuff to do and events to attend, it was crazy. You know how there is always a girl (weirdly) running with a backpack on her back and a thousand stuff in her arms? Yep, that was me last week.

Oh well, in between of all that craziness, I found that I had been eating mostly vegan unintentionally. And I started remembering how much I enjoyed been vegan a while ago, trying new foods and cooking delicious recipes.

So today I have an amazing announcement,I am going (mostly) vegan!

I had been thinking how to write this post in a way that you can all understand (and it is not too long), because this is such an exciting topic for me. I had rewritten and reorganized this a little too many times, but here it is (finally!). I will start by telling you my vegetarian/vegan story and then transition to where I am standing right now.

Me, my grandpa, and a bunch of cute cows!

"Why are you vegetarian/vegan?"The reason why I don't eat animals now, is really different from the one a year ago, and totally different from when I started. Important fact: My grandpa’s have a farm. So, when I was a kid I used to think to myself:“This can’t be right… I was playing around with this cow a couple months ago and now I am eating it.”But my parents and family were not big fans of vegetarianism or anything; so, I just sucked it up, stayed in an omnivore diet, and push the animal-friendly thoughts to the back of my mind.

Yeah... I take a lot of pictures of my food.

Middle School (Vegetarian)

When I was 14 years old, I got an issue with high triglycerides levels on my blood and had to stop eating red meat. Time for a quick biology lesson! Triglycerides are pretty much fat in the blood and they can cause heart attacks and many other conditions that no ones want to face, specially at such a young age.

My pediatrician recommended me to eliminate food high in fat (bye fries!) and red meat. He also told me that working out was going to help me lower the levels of triglycerides in my blood. I did everything he recommended and two months after, I had not only lost weight (I was a chubby kid...) but my triglycerides levels were back to normal.

I am not going to lie, I did not liked the "no fries diet," but after a while I realized that I had to do it for my health. I slowly started to fall in love with a healthy lifestyle. My life started to change, i joined the sport teams in my school, cooked most of my meals, and even had a fitblr.

One day, while watching videos about health on youtube, I come across a really interesting documentary. It talked about how your health can be improved by just switching to a vegan diet. And one documentary became two, and three, and so on...

High School: Vegetarian + Vegan

Those documentaries helped me realize that meat is not the only source of protein in the world; also, it gave me enough information to answer my parents doubts about malnutrition and deficiencies on a meat-less diet. I increased my intake of veggies, fruits, and dairy substitutes (yay for almond milk!) and stopped
eating chicken, fish, and just all animals. I declared myself a vegetarian on August 2012
and my main reason was for my own health and because of ethical reasons.

After a couple months of being vegetarian, I decided to go
vegan. This was really hard for me because I had a huge cheese addiction in the
moment. But, once I stopped consuming dairy, my skin was much clearer and I was not bloated all the time.My
reason to be vegan started to change from just the animals, to also including me
feeling better and looking prettier.

Some of the delicious plant-based vegan food i would post on my IG. #veganisdabomb

Senior Year: Plant-Based VeganDuring my senior year, I decided to give my love for vegan food a little boost and became a plant-based vegan, pretty much no processed food. I was following the 80/10/10 diet by Dr. McDougall in the moment, which stands for 80% carbs, 10%fat, and 10% protein. I would have have huge bowl of nice cream (blended frozen bananas) with berries for breakfast and
four baked potatoes and a big salad for dinner. It was a simple diet, but needed a
lot of preparation, planning, and cooking.

Last December back in Panama... "Animals are friends, not food."

College (Freshman): Dining Hall VegetarianWhen I came to college, a year ago, I was still trying to be a plant-based vegan. This plan failed horribly; I was pretty much eating salads in every meal and I ended up losing 15 lbs in a month. In order to not die of hunger in college, I decided to go back to vegetarianism with a promise that someday I would be vegan again.And that day is now, I am living in an apartment this year and, I am not going to lie, the kitchen is my favorite place. I have decided to go back to (mostly) vegan. And the reason why I am saying mostly is because I
want the freedom of trying new food when I go out with friends. Also, my boyfriend’s
grilled cheese is the best thing ever, looove them.

Just a normal day in the grocery store... Gotta love my fruits and veggies.

"So... What do you eat?"This is a question I get a little too many times... I still eat mostly carbs (need energy for rowing). I have a couple go to meals; veggie burgers and baked "fries," banana & peanut butter oatmeal, taco salad, and loaded sweet potatoes to name a few.I also thought including my grocery list would give you a better idea of what I eat. You can use it as a guide if you are thinking of going vegan or if you just want to eat a little healthier and cleaner.I am one of those person that goes grocery shopping with the
intention of buying three items and ends up with a cart full of food, but I had
been trying to stick to my grocery list lately.

If you have any question about veganism, nutrition, recipes, or anything just leave it in the comments or send me an email.